There is a little thing that Mexicans love: the diminutives. When we refer to someone as "small" or ask for a "glass" of water, we offer a "tequilita" and we also ask that they speak more "quiet" when silence is required. "It is a resource widely used in Mexico to be gentle or show affection," says Verne Concepción Company, researcher emeritus at UNAM and member of the Mexican Academy of Language.
The truth is that we use them for everything and in almost any circumstance. According to a document by the academic José Ignacio Dávila Garibi published by the Institute of Historical Research of the UNAM, in Mexico the diminutives are abused. "It can be a real physical decrease as the word little table or chair does when it refers to a children's chair, but it can be a decrease in communicative distance, which makes us express more affection and attenuators," says Company, who is also a member from The National College.
According to the Dictionary of the Spanish Language, a diminutive is made up of a word followed by a suffix that attenuates or diminishes what is denoted by the word to which it is attached, or that affectively values its meaning. While in Spain various suffixes such as -illo, -ino or -uco are used, in Mexico and in almost all of Latin America we attenuate everything with the suffix -ito e -ita. "More diminutive suffixes are used in Spain, but at the same time their use is less. Mexicans are known as abusers of diminutives," says Company.
Oh, little one: from dimmer to magnifier
The truth is that not all the diminutives that are used in Mexico are used to express affection. "When someone says 'don't be silly' with a lengthening syllable, what he is referring to is that she is more than silly," says Company. The linguist also indicates that there are mitigation mechanisms for racism. "Say prietito or negrito , where the diminutive does not accentuate but increases and makes it derogatory, something that is also done a lot in Mexico," he says.
At the same time, Mexicans use diminutives in semantic areas that cannot be diminished as ahicito , an expression used in central Mexico. "Say a second , since a second is about a unit of time that cannot be decreased, and yet much is done," says Company.
Also, the famous expression right now , which as we count in Verne , has three time relationships: right now, later or never. "Mexicans reinforce the right now with an extra and we say right now , which means 'at this very moment,'" says Company.
The inheritance of indigenous languages
Dávila Garibi indicates that the use of diminutives in Mexico has a strong heritage of indigenous languages, particularly Nahuatl. "For example, the Nahuatl word mazatl in its specific meaning of deer or deer , whose diminutive can have different forms, depending on the point of view from which said animal is considered," he says. "A venadito newborn or at least young children is called mazaconetl (fawn); a small or short one was called a mazatepito ”, he says.
According to Company, it is not a loan from indigenous languages, but a process known as communicative convergence. "There are attenuators of the Amerindian languages and, particularly, of Nahuatl, because it was the frank and basic language with which the Spanish language had to contact at the time of the Conquest," he indicates. "This process causes the use of diminutives to be reactivated or increased," he explains.
Little foot or little foot? Pancito or pancito?
There are two valid ways to create diminutives through the suffix -ito. For example, if we want to say chiclito or chiclecito . “You can decrease it with the suffix ito or add an interfix with a consonant support: little foot or little foot , both are correct. However, the use of this interfix or intermediate consonant aid is not as common in Mexico as in other Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America.
"If we want to reduce a loaf, it is more common in Mexico to say pancito , using the suffix directly, while in Argentina or Uruguay they prefer to use the interfix and say pancito ", concludes Company.
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